Strange purple sea orb in California surprises scientists

To date, says NOAA–or, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration–the human civilization has explored only about five percent of the ocean. That is to say, there’s still more than ninety-five percent waiting to be discovered, including the vast, deep pockets of the Marianas and Philippine trenches.

So it shouldn’t surprise you that there’s a new creature found lurking beneath the waters, not of the Marianas or the Philippines, but about the Channel Islands of California.

As reported in the NPR, a purple sea orb was discovered, and filmed, by the team of scientists from the Nautilus exploration vessel. During the said exploration, the team recorded the orb as it rested under a small rock while at the side of a moving unnamed crustacean.

It was a strange, but exciting discovery. In the video, one scientist asked, “what is that?”

“I’m stumped. I have no idea,” one female scientist added.

“Are we gonna grab it?” one male scientist asked.

“Yeah,” she responded.

In a concise web post, the Nautilus exploration reveals that after the sampling, the creature began to unfold ‘two distinct lobes.’

They’ve also consulted some on-shore scientists who think that it may be a pleurobranch which has a close relationship with the nudibranch, a sea slug. As of late, none of the known species of deep-sea pleurobranchs in California are purple, the team adds, so they think it is a new discovery.

See the creature in action in the video. So far, it has over a million point three, near, four, views already and has over a thousand thumbs-up.

Article by: Matt Dayo; image a screen grab from the video uploaded by Nautilus in YouTube.